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Maybe a bit over-hyped (must be the Frank Miller angle), because while this movie is mildly entertaining, it’s far from brilliant (which most Frank Miller fans will probably make it out to be). Biggest and most obvious point is the lack of story, characters and depth. So you wanna talk glory, honor and courage. That’s fine, just don’t do in for a full 2 hour stretch without pause.
The positive things are, there’s bloody gore, and enough brutal violence so you won’t doze off. The virtual studio technology is going ahead pretty well too. It’s not as obvious if you’re in the movie (it did bother me a bit looking at the trailer, always the same kind of activity and placement in the foreground). And of course, two critical scenes involving breasts and nipples will make your mouth water worse than you see in a typical Sunday morning cartoon cliche.
One last thing, don’t take your girlfriend along, as there’s nothing in for her unless she’s a sixpack-ogler.7+.

300 is thriumphant another week at the top of the box office, with another massive $31.2 million. Meanwhile Wild Hogs hangs on quite well too, with $18.8 the total stands at $104 million after three weeks.
At 3, the first new entry is Premonition, a paranormal thriller starring Sandra Bullock and Julian McMahon. With $18 million, it’s better than critics would have predicted, as they’ve collectively slammed this film.
After the success of the Saw series, writer/director James Wan continues the horror flick business with Dead Silence. This time a less than spectacular opening, at 4 with $7.8 million.
Another writer/director fails at 5, as Chris Rock gives his second try with I Think I Love My Wife. It fares worse than his first try (Head of State), premiering at almost a half of that movie ($5.7 million).

From the trailer, it was as obvious as a solar eclipse on a clear and sunny day. It just couldn’t be funny. Pair Eddie Murphy with Eddie Murphy as a super-duper loser and a bitchy obnoxious fat lady. Maybe throw in a love cross-over just for cliche’s sake, because with just the lowest denominator humor you don’t have enough.
Sure we know the make-up, the fat suit and the characters Eddie can play, we’ve seen it all before. We even liked most of’m (The Nutty Professor, Coming to America). But with this latest installment, it’s like there’s literally a fat lady sitting on you. It’s kinda tough to sit through the whole movie.4-.

With only 300 Spartan soldiers, the Frank Miller graphic novel turned virtual studio movie hauled in a whopping $70 million. Mixed critic reviews but positive exit polls from men, but also surprisingly female audience, makes this movie open higher than the total take of director Zack Snyder’s previous entry, Dawn of the Dead.
Wild Hogs proves to have enough fuel in the tank for another long leg, dropping one spot, at two with $28 million. At three, Bridge to Terabithia earns $6.9 million in its fourth week of release. Rounding out the top 5 is Ghost Rider with $6.8 million and Zodiac with $6.77 million.

Pop. That’s the main word here. As in pop music, short in longevtiy, and quick in forgettability. All that because the story is simple and strings of possible punchlines serve as dialogue. That leaves you with Hugh Grant’s physical antics as a way to make you laugh, and that just doesn’t work. The music and lyrics can’t hold it together either, being cheesy is the highest praise available here.
If you like Drew Barrymore and you want a bit of music in a romantic comedy, just go for a The Wedding Singer re-run.4½.

An inspiring true story, starring Hilary Swank as a first-time teacher thrown in the deep with a multi-cultural class in a time and place where gang related violence is on the daily menu. Makes you think of 1995’s Dangerous Minds ? Yeah maybe. It’s still has a character of it’s own, maybe even more so. The whole story is nicely packaged, and while somewhat predictable, it delivers the drama and it’s ultimately feel-good and fullfilling.7½.

Another prequel wasted. Should I blame the writer of the book or the screenwriter ? Oh wait, they are the same person. Well that’s easy. The conclusion is that this movie is as cold as it is boring. While Silence of the Lambs had an utterly interesting psychological duel between Clarice and Hannibal, the followup had already lost that. This origin story is simple and predictable. What’s left is the waiting for the cruel acts from accent-bearing Joker-smile-wearing younger Hannibal. Most of the other “bad” guys overact like their lives depended on it. So I’m sure I can blame the director as well, presenting us with dull visuals and focusing on lame facial expressions. All I can say is, cannibalism is so overrated.4.

Wild Hogs, a biker road-movie style comedy starring Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy, speeds its to the top spot, bumping a certain Ghost Rider all the way back to the third spot. Being drowned by negative critic reviews didn’t matter, as the name tags were probably enough to manage a $38 million income.
At 2, a long-awaited comeback for director David Fincher (last movie was Panic Room from 2002). Zodiac, a high budget thriller featuring the same named serial killer, earns $13.1 million.
Ghost Rider drops 2 gears, and earns $11.5 million at the third spot, now totalling a healthy $94.8 million.
Rounding out the top 5 are Bridge to Terabithia with $8.6 million and The Number 23 with $6.5 million.

You could say it’s movie-low-season, so I had to fill this week with The Hitcher. A horror flick that didn’t get pass the cardboard sign waving stage, according to the critics. So I went to get a good laugh. I mean, a body count of over two dozen in just an hour, how to glue that to a story ? Well, you don’t. You just go straight ahead, don’t look back and don’t stop. Too bad it’s not that entertaining. I didn’t get a good laugh either. Just nodding my head in a negative “don’t be so stupid” way. Maybe I should get myself a girlfriend who’s easily scared. Maybe _then_ I could’ve gotten a few good laughs.3.

Funny songs. Yeah. Not enough to fill a movie. If the songs aren’t all that funny (wears of after one or two times), it means it can hold half a movie. And that’s exactly what you have here. The humor isn’t of the highest calibre either. Combined with the lack of an interesting story, and you have a guitar with only 2 strings playing.5.

Musicals bore me. Musicals makes me wanna kill people. I knew this was an original Broadway production, but the trailer made it seem like it was going to be a normal movie, with music integrated to it. And then the Oscars, that got me curious.
Essentially, it’s about 70% singing and 30% movie. The singing ain’t that bad, and even might spawn a few hits. The movie part is also acceptable, but with such a limited story, I can’t believe they’d nominate any acting gigs for that.
Also, for the most part, the camera is focused on the stunningly beautiful Beyonce, and her many guises that will pass the stage. Not bad at all.
All in all, it’s pretty enjoyable, bar the singing dialogue parts, that will have the musical-challenged audience surpress their laughter, and will result in the drama being a sure misfire in those scenes.7-.

Very nice follow-up to earlier this year’s Flags of our Fathers, also directed by Clint Eastwood and a Dreamwork/Amblin production. Having seen Flags is actually a must, immmersing you deeper into the story, but then from the other point of view. While the concept might not be new, it’s refreshing to have a full Japanase angle on this story. Also, the atmosphere is distinctively different than Flags, logically. Then again, Japanese reasoning and mindset towards war is also nothing really new.
What IS the same, is the gritty monochromic filming, but that’s as far as it goes. There’s even a humorour undertone in many scenes.
If you ever wanted a series of war movies that are not too much of the same, these two movies should be in your collection.7½.

A flaming skull rides on his evenly flammable motorcycle to the top spot, as Nicolas Cage sets a new personal record as Ghost Rider. Dragging a host of bad critical and user reviews behind him, it still earns $44.5 million.
At two, Walden Media combines forces with Walt Disney again, with another children book to wide screen conversion. Bridge to Terabithia earns $22 million in its first week.
Norbit drops two places, at three with $16.8 million. The Eddie Murphy comedy can’t get anyone smiling, but still curiosity for his Oscor nom for the other movie probably keeps business going for a bit longer, now with a total of $58.8 million.
Marc Lawrence (of the Miss Congeniality series) enters number 4 with a rom-com, Music and Lyrics. Starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, it earns $14 million.
Cross-dressing director Tyler Perry (of the Madea series) aims at the urban viewers again, with Daddy’s Little Girls. Another all-black cast earns $12.1 million, good enough out round off the top 5.

A typical old-fashioned uncomplicated family flick, geared to the kids with an overly simple story. It also means mostly unsophisticated humor, and it kinda looked bleak at the beginning. Luckily, speed picks up after that and up till the end, it’ll be light laughter all along the way. A nice touch is that it tries to be an inspiration for kids to dive into the world of history.7.

With an ambitious tagline like this “The untold story of the most powerful covert agency in the world”, you can’t go wrong, right ? Wrong.
This movie is pretty boring, despite the covert intelligence aspect, and the counter-intelligence stuff. Oh, don’t forget the counter-counter-intelligence and the quadruple-counter-disintelligence. Yeah, mix in hundreds of semi-secretive code mumbo-jumbo in the dialogue to make it really interesting. Sorry, but the sexy mother doesn’t shag, nor does the pole-dancer reach the catwalk, if you get my drift.
Slow as the story is, it’s mostly uneventful too. And with the long running time, it really hurts that this movie is devoid of real characters and development.
Yeah, for the better CIA stuff, you’d better pick a random episode of Alias. There’s something you can really sink your teeth into.5-.